Looking at responses from landlords, I suspect a few more will decide to sell up should the latest government proposal – to ban Section 21 notices that allow landlords to evict tenants eight weeks after their rental agreement has expired – become law. The unintended consequence could be a further tightening of a market already short of good rental stock.
Yet there are good reasons for reforming the rules around renting, not least because more and more people are doing it – either because they simply cannot afford to get on the housing ladder in the towns and cities in which they want to live and work, or want the flexibility to follow a ‘nomadic’ career – chasing the best career prospects wherever they may be. Increasingly, many struggle to afford to rent, either, as the imbalance between demand and supply pushes rents sky high.
This alleged ‘profiteering’ sits at the heart of campaigns for reforms that shift the balance further in favour of tenants. Indeed, one reason some landlords use Section 21 – colloquially known as “no fault evictions”, where there are no problems such as rent arrears or property damage – is because they know they can obtain higher rents from new tenants. This, say housing charities such as Shelter, is a major cause of a recent rise in homelessness.
It is indisputable that there are indeed unscrupulous landlords that follow this modus operandi, many of whom have also benefited from demand from councils to house the poorest and most vulnerable in society. But this proposal tackles a symptom rather than the cause, which is that there are not enough council homes, few are being built, and too many disappear into private ownership as a result of Right to Buy.
Indeed, social policy should not be the concern of private landlords renting to private tenants – activity that makes up the majority of the market, and that surveys suggest is a mostly amicable relationship that balances the needs of tenants with the investment needs of ordinary landlords, many of whom are simply looking to generate income from their capital. Of course, the consultation may yet deliver reforms that help both good tenants and good landlords – not least streamlining the arduous process of evicting genuinely bad occupiers. But it is wrong to demonise this perfectly respectable business to compensate for a broader failure of government housing policy – determined landlords should make their voices heard.
